Table of Contents

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Americans View Their Mental Health, 1957 (ICPSR 3503)

Principal Investigator(s):Gurin, Gerald; Veroff, Joseph; Feld, Sheila

Summary:

In 1957, the United States Congress established the Joint
Commission on Mental Illness and Health to evaluate the nation's
resources for coping with both the psychological and economic problems
of mental illness. The Commission sponsored a nationwide survey, which
was conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of
Michigan, to assess the subjective mental health of "normal"
American adults and to determine in detail how they coped with
problems of adjustment. During ... (more info)

In 1957, the United States Congress established the Joint
Commission on Mental Illness and Health to evaluate the nation's
resources for coping with both the psychological and economic problems
of mental illness. The Commission sponsored a nationwide survey, which
was conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of
Michigan, to assess the subjective mental health of "normal"
American adults and to determine in detail how they coped with
problems of adjustment. During the spring of 1957, a sample of
American adults was interviewed on various areas in which problems
might arise, including marriage, parenthood, employment, and general
social relationships. Information about leisure time, past and present
physical and mental health, and motives for affiliation, achievement,
and power were also sought. Three questionnaire forms were employed,
each addressed to a randomly selected third of the sample.

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Universe:
Americans aged 21 years and older living in private
households in the United States in 1957.

Data Types:
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

Produced by the University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research, Survey Research Center, 1957.

Methodology

Sample:
Multistage area probability sample.

Data Source:

personal interviews

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: